How's it going?

Email from a friend: "How are you guys coping this week?"
My reply: "We're okay. A bit swamped by work, but in good spirits. The boys are all being pretty good too, which helps."

A birthday

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a birthday this week. That resulted in:

A great conversation with my parents:

• Grandson turning 15 big changes in him. Skype is great!
• Photo book arrived, looks great.
• Moving details (they store our stuff while we're away).

The boys "gaming".

Presents

• Particularly a new game (not technically a board game, but something of a hybrid between a board game and a card game): 7Wonders. The boys have been playing every spare moment, including all day today (with two extra boys, friends of our eldest from mid afternoon).

Self Maintenance

I took myself to the dentist for a checkup and the hairdresser for a trim this week. Felt great to get these routine-type things out of the way.

A good antidote for me about feeling overwhelmed by work is taking time out to socialise with friends. I had a couple of opportunities to have coffee with friends this week. It helped me keep my perspective and positive attitude.

Some projects coming to conclusion

I've received the proofs of the "31 Days of Prayer for Japan" booklet that I spent a lot of time on late last year and earlier this year. Looks like it will be out in time for our home assignment. Just need to get it proofread and marketed now!

The Japan Calendar 2015 that I've worked on the last couple of months is also coming to a conclusion. This year we're adding Portuguese and German to the English version. Wonderful progress!

The end is in sight for the Spring issue of Japan Harvest. I'm also getting to the end of the editing phase of the Summer issue. I might be able to do that before I hand it over in a couple of weeks.

Today got our last prayer/newsletter out (though there is still a couple of knots to sort out, with some addresses not being sent to). That is the last prayer/newsletter for this term of service. Great!

As I wrote above, the photo book I've worked on this year about this term of service has arrived at my parent's house (cheaper than getting it posted to Japan). My parents think it looks wonderful, great quality. This is a relief and I'm looking forward to using this flexible deputation tool.

David's finished the video we made with a couple of Aussies at CAJ giving their short testimony about how CAJ really contributes to their ministry. This is also going to be a great tool for deputation, in conjunction with another fabulous video that some American friends made for us.

David finished the rough draft of the last assignment for his Masters degree on Thursday. I'm proofreading it. It's going to be a great relief to get this finished.

It is wonderful to see these things coming to an end. That means that we're making progress in our preparation for moving, but also that we're getting ready to move into different roles for the year.

Cleaning

I cleaned the inside and outside of the windows in our bedroom today, including the screens. Seems like a small achievement, but it took a while. And again, it is a marker showing visible progress.

More furniture decided on

We've been getting various pieces of information about furniture that could be used by us in Australia. Needed furniture. It's required lots of emails and guessing/decision making. Challenging at times to get our minds around it all. But also a reminder that not only do we have good friends working on our behalf, which is a great encouragement, but also that God is supplying our needs.

Sports Day/Field Day (as the Americans call it)

5x200m relay. Our boys made up ⅖ of the orange team.

Yesterday it was the CAJ elementary sports/field day. I wasn't looking forward it, but it turned out to be okay. It was hot and despite using a hat, sunscreen, and an umbrella, and drinking 4L of fluid, my skin felt battered by the sun last night. On that note, Australians don't use umbrellas to keep the sun off them much, do they? That's going to be weird.

However I did get to touch base with a lot of people, as well as see my two younger sons perform very well in a number of events.

Here I am with a couple of friends.
I think our team should have gotten point for parents
wearing team colours. Orange is not a colour that is
in my wardrobe. I actually planned ahead and
bought this shirt at Thrift Shop for a very small
amount of money. See the orange umbrella that
my eldest son allowed me to use (it's his), it was
his idea, actually!

So, just in case you were asking: that's some of "How it's going" here!